Archives for August, 2010
They have killed 30+ dogs. There is enough room now. Yet the killing continues. Here is just a sampling of the emails I have been receiving, and it absolutely breaks my heart.
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Doctor
Doctor was that dog you are describing. There is an intake room in the trailer with more dogs. That is where she was. Her reason was food aggression. She was a sweet dog. I never had any problem with her. I hugged her and kissed her and she never reacted in a negative way. Her tail was always wagging.
Please also see the intake card. it seems minds have been made up about this dog’s doom before the 7 day state mandated stay expired. they waited for the 8th or 9th day to kill her off.
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Uncategorized by Admnistrator on Aug 30, 2010. There are comments.
Hi Melissa,
I have to say that I was disappointed to read your coverage of Liberty Humane Society.
I’m not sure where to start. First off, I am the President of Pets Alive Animal SANCTUARY in Middletown, NY and Elmsford, NY. While we are by definition a shelter, we act as a sanctuary for animals. We have been no-kill for 35 years and will continue to be.
The article characterizes the “board” of Liberty Humane Society as victims that no one will help. And Pets Alive as an out-of-state organization that is going to sue them into being no-kill.
Neither of those are in any way true.
We contacted Liberty Humane very early on in this debacle and asked how we could help. We took two dogs immediately, and I arranged with the SPCA of Connecticut for them to borrow some outdoor runs to get the dogs out of the kennels, making it unnecessary to kill them, at least for the time being.
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Uncategorized by Admnistrator on Aug 29, 2010. There are comments.
Matt here. I am SO angry I am shaking. We were used. Lied to. I knew it too. I knew something was fishy and there was a piece of the puzzle missing.
We have all heard the story of Liberty Humane. Those who don’t believe in No-Kill are saying that their attempt to be No-Kill was what caused the horrible conditions the animals are enduring. Uh. No. The idiots that RAN the shelter, regardless of their intentions are the ones who caused the suffering. Philosophies don’t kill — people do.
So now Liberty Humane has an “interim board,” the members of this board they refuse to identify. I am curious about who appointed or elected these board members, as if everyone on the old board resigned who can elect them? Hmmm. That could make their actions at best unauthorized and at worst illegal. But more about that later.
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Uncategorized by Admnistrator on Aug 26, 2010. There are comments.
Sanctuary animal updates:
Since our last update on July 4th, the following dogs were adopted:
Ellie Mae, Bono, Cassidy, Baby, Jupiter, Martha, Sabella, Prince Charming, Newton, Sophie, Lucky, Lexie, Aurora, Tyler, Bashful, Mouse, Doc, Charlie, Bruce, Ariel, James, Elmo, Barry, Sabella again, Justice, Founder, Bailey, Sleepy, Peaceful, Faith, Merlin, Jake, Bugsy, Friend, Belle, Oliver, Rex, Badger, Mack, Hildie, Rigby, Spooner, Grumpy, Taffy, Corey, Diesel, Elsie, Molly, Macouns, Danielle, Muffin, Lucy, Roxanne, Roxy, Patches, Ludo, Sesame, Aurora again, Sniffer, Foreman, Archie, Skid, Aragon, Arwyn, Eagle, Happy, Dopey, Sneezy, Spike, Norman, Freebie, Jeremiah, Bianca, Buddy, Corky, Bo Peep, Tracker, Sophie again, Noah, Sarah, Harvey, Belle, Independence, Gus, Jewel, Sadie, Aspen, BooBoo, Angelica, Bartholomew, Chloe, Bryan, Sprocket, Dexter, Jake, Squiggles, Snickle, Mate, Bono again, Lady, Tori, Gabriel, Cherish, Bonita, Milo, Fred, Blossom, Mo Mo, Emma, Betty, Tucker, Franklin, Tater, Pookie, April, August, Wrinkles, Jade, Stryker, Scout, Timber, Ellie Mae again, Laurel, Becky, Ebbie, Image, Princess, Tyler – plus another 32 beagles that we didn’t get in our system yet, so I don’t have their names to list here….but we adopted a total of 160 dogs. Wow. It sure has been a whirlwind!
We also adopted out five cats! Handsome, Delilah, Alex, Max, and Duffy went home, and two goats. So, all told, 167 animals went home in 43 days.
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Updates by kerry on Aug 13, 2010. There are comments.
Ok…so when I wonder why Reno can save 94% of the animals that come through their doors, why Philly and Charlotte are making great strides toward becoming no-kill, why we can add Austin and Las Vegas and so many other cities to that list of places where no-kill is more of a reality than a dream, we have New York City…where Maddie’s Fund and the ASPCA have poured more than $20 million into making NYC No-kill, and Jane Hoffman hangs on by her fingernails to keep the Mayor’s Alliance deciding who will live or die needlessly while moving the goalposts of when New York will become No-Kill every year from 2008 to 2010 to 2012 now 2015.
The No-Kill Conference was overflowing with people who have actually DONE it…actually taken their major city or metropolitan area from killing animals to NOT killing animals. One of my favorite parts of the No-Kill Conference was Nathan Winograd (“New York doesn’t NEED a Nathan Winograd” – Jane Hoffman) asking speaker after speaker “After you decided not to kill animals anymore, how long did it take to become no kill.” This confused most of the people he asked. “Uh…it was instant.” “One day.” “That same day.”
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Animal Rescue,
No-kill by Admnistrator on Aug 12, 2010. There are comments.
I”m home. After I velcro my dogs off me and take a shower I settle down in front of my computer to really go over the emails I have received while I was gone. While we’re away Kerry and I always have our BlackBerrys and our laptops, but we only answer the urgent and emergency emails and trust that Jenessa and Janet can handle the uglies that pop up back home.
I left the conference with the same familiar feeling…so honored and proud to have the privilege of working on this team and an overwhelming sense that we need to do more.
This time was no different, except that we arrived home with four cats from the DC shelter and a sweet, precious little girl with a shattered pelvis from the Baltimore shelter. She followed us home. Really. Kerry’s email to staff had me roaring…”Ok. Look. We’re coming home with four cats and a dog that needs rehab and/or medical attention. And one of the cats may be sick. None have heartworm tests and aren’t spayed or neutered. Before you say anything just shut up.” We are total saps. We arrived after hours and of course Janet and Jen and Juan stayed to make sure we got in and the animals got attention.
They will, of course, have all their tests and get altered and shake whatever they may have before they go on to their forever homes, happy and healthy.
Being at the conference allowed Kerry and I to talk with other people who do what we do, face the same problems we face, make the same mistakes we make. We love it. We love it when other shelters invite us in, other organizations ask to come see us, people who are starting sanctuaries ask for our advice. We learn from all of it, and if we take even ONE thing from the sessions and the one-on-one conversations we are thrilled. I know at one point I ran out of paper from taking notes, and my mind is still spinning from all the great stuff that was flying around in my head that whole time.
Advocating a no-kill position can be difficult and dangerous, and makes you a target for other people’s guilt, indifference and ignorance.
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No-kill by Admnistrator on Aug 08, 2010. There are comments.
So in the midst of everything else going on, all the battles, and wars, and adoptions, and conferences, and life in general, I opened the mail this month to two really great letters. Oddly enough they were both from kids. Kids. Our future. The next generation. The ones that may be able to accomplish what we are struggling for – A No Kill Nation. And I think they can do it. I think they just might be able to do it based on letters like these.
The first is from Evan W. I thought about re-typing it but I think other than removing his last name and address, I am posting the letter in entirety. Attached was a $500 check.
The second letter is from a person that mailed us last year too on her birthday. That is Lily Palmieri. Every year she has a birthday and asks all her friends to donate money to Pets Alive instead of giving her gifts. She collects them all, takes a picture of everyone and sends it to us. I’m always touched and honored that she chooses us and always very choked up when I read her sweet letter. You can click here to see her letter and picture from last year.
So this year she writes:
Dear Pets Alive,
Hi, It is Lily Palmieri again and I just turned 11. Last year when I turned 10, I had a birthday party and I had everyone donate money to Pets Alive instead of getting gifts. Last year I made $250 and this year I made $350. My friends kept giving me more money because they knew I was donating to Pets Alive again. I even told my parents about the Fur Ball on May 22 and they bought tickets because they knew it would give Pets Alive more money.
I wrote an essay about animal abuse and I was surprised of how many animals get abused a year. I am so glad there is a no-kill shelter like Pets Alive. Keep up the good work. I will be donating money to Pets Alive every year. I will be coming up to Pets Alive in the summer with my friends.
P.S. Here’s a picture of all my friends who helped out by donating money to Pets Alive.
All I can say is I’m so glad there are kids like you Lily and like you Evan. YOU keep up the good work. And stay with it. We need you for our future and it’s looking bright with kids like you at the helm.
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Featured Letters by kerry on Aug 03, 2010. There are comments.
So I’m here in Washington, DC at the No-Kill Conference put on by The No-Kill Advocacy group, and I’m listening and talking to mostly like-minded people. I, of course, have an overwhelming feeling of pride and feel fortunate that you all have given us the resources to be where we are at this point in time.
Oreo’s Law is a huge topic of conversation here, and we’ve learned a lot from it. “The Movement.” I didn’t realize I was part of the movement until Paul Berry used those words at Pets Alive in 2007, which seems so far in the past when I look at it now.
It’s never really been a “movement” to me. I’ve always seen it as a simple recognition of our moral responsibility toward companion animals. We have a moral obligation to each and every one, and we should not allow anything to get in the way of that. Pets Alive has been successful because that is the overriding tenet that controls everything we do.
There were four people speaking here today that really connected with me personally. Really touched me deeply and really helped me to understand that this is truly a movement in the purest sense. It’s a shift in ideas, in foundations, in manners of thinking and acting. And that’s what we’re witnessing.
We don’t have to kill adoptable animals. That is something that all of us respect, understand, and appreciate. Even the ASPCA, which has put itself out there as the kill shelter poster organization because of their words and actions, pays lip service to the idea that killing should be a last resort.
We all believe this. It is part of our core and flows logically from the stuff inside of us we call our morality. There can be no moral equivalence for death, which is a nice way of saying we don’t throw around the phrases “fate worse than death” or “better off dead.”
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No-kill,
Why we do this by Admnistrator on Aug 01, 2010. There are comments.